Politics & Government
Walnut Creek Walks With the Mayor
Second Saturday stroll goes from one BART station to the other via Iron Horse trail, and back through northwest WC neighborhoods.
Several dozen Walnut Creekers took a Saturday stroll with Bob Simmons, the walkin' mayor.
Perhaps a little more intense than a stroll. One wag said the five-mile should be called "Keeping up with the Mayor."
Simmons led a group of 25 to 40 (the procession picked up walkers as it went along, and then shed some at the end). The mayor strode purposefully and fast through the "Two by Two by Two" — two BART stations (Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill); two "iron horses" (the Iron Horse trail) and the "iron horse" that is a BART train zipping by; and two major overpasses.
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It was a family walk for Hilary Hibel and her daughter, Freya Williams, an 8-year-old who is in the third grade at Pleasant Hill Elementary School.
Hibel said she applauded the mayor for his Walnut Creek Walks initiative, taking advantage of a Walnut Creek asset — its walkability. She and her daughter were also pleased to see Simmons utilize the trails they love in their Larkey neighborhood, trails they often perambulate with their yellow Labrador, Honey.
The walk took the group on the Iron Horse Trail over Treat Boulevard across the Robert Schroder pedestrian bridge, which opened in 2010. It is named for former Walnut Creek Mayor Robert Schroder, a fervent advocate of the Iron Horse Trail in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Jim Townsend, trails development program manager for the East Bay Regional Parks District, was along the Second Saturday walk. Walking across the Schroder bridge, he pointed out its distinctive engineering, with two arches canted at different angles to allow the bridge to curve gently in order to avoid a green strip and its valley oaks on the north side of Treat.
Ruth Carver, herself a veteran of a weekly moms walk group, said she loved the opportunity to exercise and see different corners of the community.
She walked with her friend Linda Loza, who said, "I like what the mayor's doing. It makes Walnut Creek seem like a small town."
The city has set up an online tracker for residents to log miles they're walking in Walnut Creek Walks.
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